"The buildings we admire are ultimately those which, in a variety of ways, extol values we think worthwhile ... ".
Architecture of Happiness - Alain de Botton.
We have been reading about the award given to the development at Cret-Taconnet, "le prix Aspan-SO", specifically, the article from our newspaper L' Express, 30-May-2007;
"Des lauriers pour récompenser un projet urbanistique exemplaire".
We lived in the Vieux-Chatel neighborhood prior to moving up the hill to Cret-Taconnet. We were familiar with the old buildings and run down conditions
on Cret-Taconnet and the Espace de l'Europe before the construction of both the Tour d´ OFS
and this urban project on Cret-Taconnet. We watched the old buildings being demolished and the new apartments and the tower being built.
We have lived at Cret-Taconnet 12 now for over two years, moving in shortly after the buildings were finished. We had high hopes that living here
would be fulfilling. We have been disappointed and are moving. Most of our neighbors who made up the group of first tennants have also moved out.
We are not letter writers nor do we like to complain in public. However, we think that giving any award to such a poorly designed
and built complex is the wrong thing to do and so think we need to say something.
The architects are Patrick Devanthéry and Inès Lamunièr, general contractor Immoroc SA, Neuchâtel, for SUVA, Lucern .
The buidings are badly designed from a usability standpoint; the architects must be accountable for at least these problems:
- Main entrances and letter boxes are on the wrong side of buildings 12 and 8, making them impossible to find for guests.
- Garbage collection for two of three buildings is also on the wrong side of the buildings, requiring the six large trash bins to be hauled up a grade to the street.
- Stairs wind the wrong way, open into the apartments in the sleeping area, not the living area. The first thing one sees on entry is the master bathroom.
The stairwells are echo chambers, the doors are of such a poor quality that you hear conversations, doors slamming, and foot falls in the stairwell.
- Balconies are badly designed, there is no privacy and they are noisy due to the glass partitions used.
- Electrical outlets are inadequate and positioned in strange and unusable places.
- The caves are a joke, very small and made of the poorest of materials.
- There is no ventilation in the laundry room and no place to fold clothes.
- Internal systems such as heating and hot water are poorly designed; hot water outages are common as is noisy heating in the floors.
- Open access to the public - including drunks and hooligans, noise and damage to external fixtures is not uncommon. Noise is a problem due to the lack of landscaping and building design. The public uses the exterior areas as a toilet.
- Landscaping is non-existent; all of the grounds are paved.
- No access to the garage via a stairway, only via the elevators.
- Drainage is poor in bad weather; a small lake appears in the play area for children during heavy rains and takes days to drain off.
- Trash overflows in the "public" areas and is often blown around the children's playground.
Finally, the builder´s problems:
- Fixtures are low grade; tiles, parquet, faucets, bath and showers are all of a second rank quality. This includes the public areas such as stairs and the caves.
- Workmanship is poor; after 18 months of complaints we saw a few things done to fix some of the problems. Many of these repairs left our apartment in worse condition than before; it has cost us money paying the electrical bills for the contractors, and made one bathroom unusable for weeks.
- The buildings are plagued by plumbing leaks, broken elevators and doors.
The city may also take some responsibility.
- The plan has turned rue Cret-Taconnet into a canyon where every sound echoes between the OFS and the apartment buildings making it difficult to keep the windows open on the north side of the building.
- No effort to curb speeding vehicles has been made, walking up or down rue Cret-Taconnet can be dangerous.
- No plan for parking for the new enterprises at the Gare was made, reulting in "parking sauvage" and angry drivers are a daily menance in our area.
- No effort has been made to tone down the street lights on the bedroom (north) side of the building. Inside the bedrooms, the street lights are bright enough to read by.
- Extenisve exterior lighting must cost a fortune to run has had no effect discouraging pissing, tagging, or vandalism.
If we were awarding a prize for this complex, it would be for the worst designed and built buildings we have ever lived in.
John Sergneri/Athena Sargent
Formerly from Cret Taconnet 12
We can be reached at:
Rue du Rocher 35 2000 Neuchatel
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